Monthly Archives: October 2017

One goal of personalized medicine is using data science tools to guide medical decision-making. Here, Cihan Oguz and colleagues describe in an article published as part of the Systems Medicine thematic series in BMC Systems Biologyhow they used machine learning tools to develop a predictive model of coronary artery disease.

Professor George Kelley, Director of the Meta-Analytic Research Group at West Virginia University, discusses this more recent approach to reviewing the literature, the need for this work, the challenges associated with it, and makes further suggestions for conducting this type of study in the future.

New York has added electronic cigarettes to its indoor smoking ban, making it illegal to use the devices in bars, restaurants and most workplaces. Around 70 percent of the state’s municipalities already have bans in effect but manufacturers have argued that e-cigarettes do not qualify for inclusion in the Smoke Free Air Act as they technically do not emit smoke. The new law will go into effect in less than 30 days. We take a closer look at this development and e-cigarette research published in BMC Public Health.

Research published in BMC Psychology has found that a series of validated, self-reported questions administered to soldiers early in their careers could predict mental health outcomes such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after they return from deployment. Here to tell us about the study is guest blogger Kayla Mathews.

New research published in BMC Evolutionary Biology finds that when co-founding a new colony, ant queens may bury other queens to avoid fungal infection. This behaviour, normally associated with workers, contrasts with typical views of ant queens who usually focus on reproduction rather than risky tasks.

October 16th 2017 marks World Food Day which is celebrated every year on the same date in recognition of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945. Historically and to this day, most World Food Day themes revolve around agriculture, supporting the notion that investment in cultivating land and rearing crops and livestock has huge potential for combating issues relating to hunger and poverty. Below, we look at this year’s theme and discuss related work published in BMC Public Health.

Curious and cute, pangolins are among the strangest of mammals. Here we discuss new research, recently published in BMC Genomics, that reshapes our thinking of the evolutionary relationships among pangolin species, with implications for the conservation of this severely endangered group.